..."They cannot see how much of the misery of human life is derived from the indulgence of wrath" - William Henry Seward

Friday, April 11, 2008

Quote Of The Day (Okay, 2 Quotes)

"I really don’t understand why the Republican Party very clearly decided what they were going to do [about the Florida and Michigan delegations], and the Democratic Party can’t decide." -Hillary Clinton

Actually, Senator Clinton, the Democratic Party did decide what to do. They decided to strip those states of all their delegates. This decision was made through the proper procedures, at the proper time, by the proper decision-makers -- including your own adviser Harold Ickes, who voted "yes" on the delegate-stripping plan. The decision was clear and straightforward: if Florida and Michigan didn't move their primary dates, they'd lose their delegations. Period. That was, and is, the decision.

You initially accepted this decision because it was politically necessary for you to do so -- after all, you couldn't be seen as the only candidate not currying favor with Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Now, you are refusing to accept that very same decision because it is, again, politically necessary for you to do so, as you can't "win" without those "delegates" who were "elected" in those states' illegitimate "primaries."

To make matters worse, you are dishonestly and absurdly cloaking this cynical Machiavellian maneuver under the guise of democratic idealism, arguing that there's some sort of moral imperative to count the votes of citizens who chose to participate in "elections" that everyone knew were non-binding beauty contests. Better yet, you're making this argument while simultaneously advocating the importance of a "popular vote" count that excludes all voters in Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington (whose caucuses didn't report raw vote totals, only delegate counts), and all Obama and Edwards supporters in Michigan (whose candidates weren't on the ballot).

And now, on top of all that, you have the unmitigated gall to gripe that your party "can't decide" what to do, when in fact they decided long ago precisely what to do, and you acquiesced in that decision until you realized that you couldn't win without changing the rules in the middle of the game -- i.e., that you can't win without cheating.